


Can’t Find the Words

by vix_spes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friends With Benefits, M/M, Misunderstandings, Oblivious, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 19:59:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1830427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This wasn’t a problem that Charlie had envisaged when he and Neville had started their ‘friends with benefits’ agreement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can’t Find the Words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dunderklumpen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunderklumpen/gifts).



> This is a sequel to [Here Be Dragons](http://archiveofourown.org/works/972542)

‘A relationship wouldn’t necessarily work, we both know that.’

Charlie didn’t think that he had ever regretted any words that had emerged from his mouth quite as much as he regretted the words that he had said to Neville eighteen months ago. At the time, the words had felt right, _they were right_ ; both men were dedicated to their careers and didn’t feel the need for a relationship so the ‘friends with benefits’ concept that Charlie had suggested had seemed perfect. It had worked perfectly as well until the last time that Charlie had visited England and come to a rather bloody scary realisation; he was already more than a little bit in love with Neville Longbottom.

That had been six months ago.

As with Bill and Fleur, George had decided that his wedding to Angelina Johnson would not only be held at The Burrow but during the summer as well. Molly had been ecstatic about another wedding and possible grandchildren, particularly as it seemed that her two youngest children showed no signs of getting married or even engaged anytime soon. Bearing in mind Fred’s words at Bill’s wedding, there was a lot less fuss and pomp than there had been previously and after numerous threats of body-bind curses, Molly was doing her best to restrain herself and not be too overbearing. Unfettered by the dangers of war, they had been able to invite as many guests as they wished and they had done exactly that; the whole of The Burrow buzzing with the laughter of the milling guests. At Bill’s wedding, Charlie had ended up spending the night with a beautiful French witch; a friend of Fleur’s from Beauxbatons. At George’s wedding, Charlie had been unable to tear his eyes away from Neville.

They hadn’t made any promises to each other. Due to the nature of their jobs and the fact that they never knew when Neville’s clients would want more of the ingredient that had brought him to Romania, they came to the mutual decision that they wouldn’t be exclusive, that they were free to be with other people when they weren’t together. Charlie had taken advantage of that and carried on with his flirtations and his entanglements but, in hindsight, he could now see that his dalliances had tailed off after the first time that he had had sex with Neville in the middle of the reserve. So, Charlie was totally unprepared for the jealousy that stabbed through him at George’s wedding when he saw Neville, looking particularly handsome in his dress robes, being chatted up by a very flirtatious Lee Jordan.

Neville had the right to flirt with whoever he wanted given that they had made no promises to each other and he was a free man but that didn’t mean that Charlie had to like it. In fact, Charlie was rather grateful that he hadn’t seen the flirting until after the wedding ceremony otherwise it would have put a real dampener on the whole event and not just the reception. As it was, despite the number of good-looking, single witches and wizards there that day, all Charlie had done was sit and drink Firewhiskey while glowering in Neville’s general direction. The only people that he had deigned to leave the bar to dance with were his mother, sister, sister-in-law and niece. Somewhere in between dancing with Ginny and Fleur, Neville had disappeared. And so had Lee Jordan.

He hadn't had any contact with Neville since then. It had been six months since Charlie had realised he was in love with Neville and that had been incredibly hard because once he had accepted his feelings, he had been torn. Did he tell Nevile how he felt and run the risk of Neville not feeling the same way or did he keep quiet and just let things carry on as they had been? Either way, it seemed inevitable that he was going to get hurt. Even so, eternal optimist that he was, he couldn't help but make a few discreet, hypothetical enquiries into job openings at the reserve in Wales. It wasn't quite as good as the one in Romania but he would still be able to work with dragons. The people who ran the reserve had responded with an emphatic yes; if Charlie wanted to come and work with them then they would find him a position.  He still hadn't decided what he was going to do when the decision was taken out of his hands; he received a message from Neville to say that he'd had several requests for the ingredient off the reserve and, if it was convenient for Charlie, Neville would be arriving the following morning.

Charlie's time had run out.

However, just because Neville was coming to the reserve didn't mean that Charlie had to see him. There was plenty that he could find to occupy himself that meant he didn't have to be anywhere near Neville. After all, Neville was only going to be there for two days, just long enough for him to get the ingredients he needed. Charlie could avoid him for two days easily.

Except it wasn't that easy. Apparently Neville had every intention of making things difficult for Charlie because when Charlie made it back to his cabin on the evening of the second day when Neville had supposedly already left, Neville was sat there on Charlie's bed waiting for him.

"So, were you ever going to tell me what the problem is or was your plan simply to hide and avoid me until I gave up?"

"Umm..."

"I'm not an idiot Charlie. Something obviously happened at George and Angelina's wedding because we were fine before then. So, the question is, are you going to tell me what that problem is? I mean, if you want to end what we have then okay. I won't like it but I'll accept it even if I don't under.."

"I'm in love with you." Well, Charlie never had been one for subtlety. He hadn't quite planned to blurt it out like that though.

In his defence, as shocked as Charlie looked by his sudden attack of word vomit, Neville was clearly pole axed.

"I'm sorry what? You're in love with me?"

"Yes."

"In which case could you explain your thought process to me because I'm really confused. You're in love with me but you're avoiding me. Precisely how does that work?"

"I'm not sure… "

"So why weren't you going to tell me?"

"Because love isn't what we signed up for. Either of us. We both agreed that we didn't want a relationship."

"That was eighteen months ago Charlie. Things change. People change. Did it never occur to you to talk to me? Find out I felt the same way? And if you're in love with me, why did you ignore me at the wedding? "

"I ignored you because I was jealous and I didn't know how to deal with it. Surely this has shown you that I'm not great with words; I'm much better at just _doing_ things. And you were flirting with Lee Jordan then you disappeared at the same time." All of a sudden, Charlie realised what Neville had said. "Hang on, find out you felt the same way?"

"I'm in love with you too, you idiot. Only I realised about six months _before_ the wedding. And I may have flirted with Lee but I never slept with him."

"But you never said anything. About being in love with me I mean." Charlie blushed at the look Neville levelled at him. "Okay, I can't talk."

"No, you can't. Like you said, we had agreed to no relationship so I didn't say anything because what we had was preferable to nothing at all."

"We're both idiots."

Neville laughed at that. "We are."

Charlie grinned before he realised that now they needed to have another conversation and he really hadn't been lying about not being good with words. "Umm, so..."

"So how about you take me to bed? It's been six months since you last shagged me and that's far too long. We can talk later. Sex first."

"Your wish is my command."

"As if you're not as desperate as I am."

Charlie had no response to that, only to shut Neville up the best way he knew how; by kissing him.

Several hours later, a sweaty and satiated Neville collapsed across his chest, Charlie finally found some of the words he wanted to say. "How do you feel about Wales?"

**Author's Note:**

> If you would prefer to comment on LJ, you can do so [here](http://vix-spes.livejournal.com/164819.html)


End file.
